This homemade milano cookies recipe produces a buttery, delicious chocolate filled cookie made healthier at home and with just four ingredients. You won't know you aren't eating the iconic Pepperidge Farm Milano cookie.
This copycat milano cookie recipe makes a much healthier cookie, both dairy-free and gluten free, and they taste better than the store bought version.
In fact, this recipe tastes closer to the commercial recipe than other copycat recipes probably because oat flour strongly resembles the flavor of the commercial milano cookie. Plus the oat flour allows the texture of the cookie to be snappy, just like a true milano. This recipe is incredible easy, and will put cookies on your table within the hour, just like my Girl Scout copycat samoa cookies and my Entenmann's copycat mini vegan chocolate chip cookies.
What Are Milano Cookies?
Milano cookies are thin, snappy, oval sandwich cookies filled with a chocolate fudge and sold in a white paper bag, the product of the US-based company, Pepperidge Farm. The milano cookie has had a strong following for decades. The manufacturer produces the cookie in 20 flavors, the news being pumpkin and candy cane. This copycat recipe can be adapted to create those flavors as well, without the preservatives and additives.
Ingredients
The ingredients are so few and familiar that you probably have them all in your pantry. Here is the full list:
1. Oat flour. This flour is naturally gluten-free if you buy a certified GF brand, and has more nutritional than all purpose. Still all purpose flour works here, just use less. Oat flour can be bought or made by blending rolled oats for a minute or two in a blender.
2. Butter. Use unsalted butter so you can control the salt. I used vegan butter sticks but traditional butter works as well. Use the stick at room temperature so when you press a finger into it, a slight indent is left.
3. Powdered sugar. Organic powdered sugar has tapioca instead of cornstarch and thus tastes better.
4. Aquafaba. The liquid from an unsalted chickpea can or box. Be sure your aquafaba is at room temperature. Open the box, drain the aquafaba into a jar and measuring out the amount you need for this recipe. Then refrigerate the jar for a week to use in other recipes.
5. Vanilla & Salt. Add 1-2 teaspoon of vanilla, and ⅛ teaspoon salt.
6. Chocolate chips. I used 60% cacao semi-sweet chips, and added a teaspoon of oil to thin.
Steps to Make
The detailed recipe is below this post in a recipe card with the video, however here are the general steps.
1. Gather ingredients: oat flour, powdered sugar, aquafaba, butter and vanilla.
2. Mix batter: Use a hand-mixer or spoon and mix the batter in a bowl or measuring cup.
3. Add batter to piping bag. Spoon the batter into a frosting bag or ziplock bag with the tip cut off revealing a 1-inch opening. Refrigerate the batter in the bag for just 30 minutes although you can store it up to 2 days if you want to bake later.
4. Pipe the batter. Pipe 3-inch lines, separated by 2 inches. Here is a template to download and slip under your baking sheet. Or if you have a steady hand, just pipe 3-inch long cookies.
5. Bake the cookies at 350 F for 16-18 minutes or until edges are faintly brown.
6. Let the cookies cool on the cookie sheet.
7. Melt chocolate chips and a bit of coconut oil for 60 seconds in a microwave. Stir until all chips are melted. Spoon the melted chocolate down the center of the inside of a cookie and press another on top.
8. Let them set before jostling them much.
Substitutions & Variations
1.All purpose flour can be used instead of oat flour, just use only 1 cup.
2.White chocolate can be used instead of chocolate as a filling.
3.The batter can be flavored with extracts such as peppermint extract, almond extract, orange extract.
Expert Tips
1.This recipe makes 14 cookies, or 7 milano sandwich cookies.
2.Be sure your butter and aquafaba are at room temperature.
3.Fluff oat flour with a fork and spoon into a measuring cup, and level off. Do not scoop.
4.Here is Downloadable Milano Cookie Template I provide to create three inch long cookies.
5.Put the batter in a frosting bag without a formal tip. Just cut off the tip to revealing a 1-inch opening. Or use a large plastic ziplock bag.
Store & Make Ahead
How to store Milano cookies
Store the cookies in a sealed container with a paper towel inside the container to retain crispness. Keep the container at room temperature for up to 4 days.
Can I freeze Milano cookies?
Yes, freeze the cookies in a sealed container for up to three months. The same with the batter. Freeze it, let is come to room temperature when you are ready to bake.
Can I make this Milano cookie recipe in advance?
You can prepare the cookie batter up to 2 days in advance, just keep the batter refrigerated in the piping bag. You can pipe the batter directly from the refrigerator, no need to bring it to room temperature.
FAQS
What is a Milano Cookie Made of?
This oval-shaped butter cookie sandwiches a layer of chocolate. My copycat milano cookie is similar, only by butter cookie is made of oat flour, and my chocolate ganache is just melted chocolate.
What Makes Milano Cookies so Good?
The buttery crisp cookie combined with the fudgy chocolate ganache filling make this cookie irristiable. Imagine now that you can make them healthier and at home within half an hour.
Other Copycat Cookies
- Entenmann's Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Samoa Cookies
- Thin Mints
- Chocolate Sugar Cookies
- Hermit Cookies
- Matcha Cookies
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📖 Recipe
Milano Cookies Recipe
Ingredients
Sandwich cookie
- 1 ¼ cup oat flour or 1 cup of all purpose
- ¾ cup powdered sugar
- ¼ cup unsalted butter softened
- ⅓ cup aquafaba liquid from a can of unsalted chickpeas
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ⅛ teaspoon salt more to taste
Filling
- 1 cup chocolate chips
- 1 teaspoon coconut oil optional to thin.
Instructions
Prep
- Gather ingredients
- Print my template, line a quarter cookie sheet with parchment paper and slide my paper template beneath so the lines show through the parchment.
- Preheat the oven at 350 F.
Make cookies
- Add ingredients to a bowl and blend up until creamy.1 ¼ cup oat flour, ¼ cup unsalted butter, 1 teaspoon vanilla, ⅛ teaspoon salt
- Spoon your batter into a frosting bag with the tip cut off. I cut the tip so the opening is about 1-inch and push it into a glass to make filling it easier.
- Pro-tip: Chill the dough 30 minutes in the refrigerator before baking. If you bake in two batches, leave unbaked batter in refrigerator before piping and baking. Keeping it chilled helps contain spreading and keep the nice oval shape.
- Pipe 3-inch cookies along the lines you see through the parchment paper.
- Slide the paper template out from beneath the parchment paper
- Bake 18 minutes or until edges are tinged with brown.
- Let the cookies cool in the pan. Transfer them to a cooling rack.
Make filling
- When the cookies are cooled, melt the chocolate chips and coconut oil in the microwave for 60 seconds. Stir the chocolate until all chips are melted. Spread the chocolate on one side of a cookies, and press another on top.1 cup chocolate chips, 1 teaspoon coconut oil
- Let them set at room temperature.
Store the Cookies
- Store them at room temperature in a sealed container for 2-3 days or refrigerate for a week. They can also be frozen in an airtight container for three months.
Liz
I would love to try this. Since going vegan have missed these!
Dee Dine
Great news! I hear you!